The Perception of Little Girls
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Gabrielle is astounded by the perception of little girls, especially her own.  Follows Searching.


Title: "The Perception of Little Girls"  
>Author: Pirate Turner<br>Rating: G  
>Summary: Gabrielle is astounded by the perception of little girls, especially her own.<br>Warnings: None  
>Challenge: This was written for a weekly challenge for the Writers_Choice LJ comm.<br>Word Count: 1,289  
>Date Written: 8 March, 2011<br>Timeline: Takes place right after "Searching"  
>Disclaimer: Gabrielle, Juanita, Lee, all other characters mentioned within, and Desperate Housewives are &amp; TM ABC and other rightful owners, not the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.<p>Juanita waited until they got home before turning in their foyer and facing her mother with her smile gone. "Why?" she asked her.<p>

Gabrielle whipped around from closing the door behind them and asked, her brown eyes wide, "Why what?"

"Why does it always have to be about you?" Juanita demanded, beginning to pout.

"Always about me?" Gabrielle repeated in surprise. She stepped forward, her arms opening to take her daughter in close to her heart, but Juanita stepped away from her. Hurt shone in Gabby's eyes as she told her, "Sweetheart, tonight was about you!"

"Not at first," Juanita pointed out. "At first, it was about you wanting me to make you proud! That's why you didn't want me to play music on my arm pit or do jokes! That's why you made me work so hard on my tap dancing!"

Gabrielle's face fell. She had thought that her daughter had not known her true reasoning, and Juanita's words now felt like a slap against her soft skin and fragile ego. "What . . . " Her voice trembled, and she tried again, determined not to let her daughter know just how close to the truth she was. "What makes you think that, Juanita?"

Juanita gave her a look that told Gabrielle both that her daughter thought that she thought she was stupid and that she was nowhere near as stupid as she thought her mother thought her. "Why else did you hide my tap shoes?" she demanded, and Gabrielle's mouth fell wide open. "That's right!" Juanita exclaimed, pointing a finger at her. "I know you hid them, Momma! That's why you suddenly knew right where they were at at the end of the show!"

Gabrielle sighed, her gaze falling from her daughter's face to her designer shoes. Juanita was right, and she could think of no other way to explain her actions that her daughter might believe. "Hmph," she muttered. "Little girls your age aren't supposed to be so perceptive."

Juanita pulled her head back and looked harder at her mother. She blinked, clearly confused. "Perwhat?" she questioned.

Gabrielle's timid smile was a mixture of sadness, guilt, and amusement at her child's reaction to the adult word. "You're not supposed to know me so well," she explained.

"Of course I know you!" Juanita exclaimed. "You're my Mother!"

Gabrielle's smile twisted partially upwards, the other side of her mouth still frowning. "I think sometimes," she told her honestly, stooping down to her level and daring to meet her eyes again, "that you know me better than I know myself." She paused before asking timidly, "So are you mad at me?"

Her daughter had every right in all the world to be furious with her, but Gabrielle truly hoped she wasn't. She was proud of the little girl before her, even if she hadn't come from her own body, and she wanted her to know both how proud she was and how much she loved her. She owed a debt of thanks to Lee, she reflected, for showing her what she should have already seen and realizing that the most important reasons she had for being proud of Juanita was simply because she loved her and she was her child. She'd never go back to the way she had been now, but Juanita might not give her a choice. After all, Gabrielle shamefully knew that she had been a terrible mother over the past few months and never that wonderful a parent before then.

"Juanita?" she asked, her heart skipping a beat.

"I should be . . . " Juanita replied, her small, pudgy face still stern. Slowly she unfolded her arms from before her chest and opened them in a sign of surrender. " . . . but I can't be. I love you, Momma, and you helped me to be proud of myself tonight! You might have been the one trying to stop me at first, but I wouldn't have been able to be on that stage if you hadn't given me my shoes back. And you did that thinking I'd embarrass you!"

"Oh," Gabrielle crooned, reaching out and pulling her daughter into her arms. "You didn't embarrass me, sweetheart! You made me proud, and I'm already so proud of you!" That was the truth, she realized, and she couldn't have been prouder of Juanita if she really had been her daughter. For the first time since learning the truth of her offspring, Gabrielle no longer missed her birth daughter and wanted only to be closer to Juanita, who, in truth, Gabby had come to learn and accept tonight, was her real daughter even if she hadn't given birth to her.

"I'm very proud of you," Gabrielle continued to gush, hugging Juanita tightly to her. "I just don't always know how to show it, and I know I've been mean to you the last few months! I'm so, so, so sorry, Juanita!" She ran her hands over her lovely face, then clasped her little face gently in both of her hands, and looked directly into her big, brown eyes. "But if you give me the chance, I'll be the mother I should be. I won't be mean any more, and I'll show you how proud I am of you and how much I love you!"

Juanita wasn't accustomed to her mother talking in this manner. "Aw, Mom . . . " she started to say, and Gabrielle hugged her even more tightly, nearly crushing the air out of her lungs.

"I'm so, so sorry!" she cried again, tears slipping down her dark cheeks. Then she looked at her once more and softly brushed her face and hair with her trembling fingertips, remembering how she'd almost lost her little one before. "But I do love you. You know that, right?"

Juanita nodded.

"And do you know how much I love you?"

"To the moon and back," Juanita answered, beaming proudly.

"That's right!" Gabrielle cried and hugged her daughter again.

Juanita didn't understand what had come over her mother. She knew that she'd missed the other girl who'd once lived with them, and she knew, too, that her mother had almost ruined her talent show this night. Yet to have her mother gushing over her again and showing her how much she really did love her instead of just telling her made all the difference in the world to Juanita.

Suddenly, the last few months were completely worth the trouble she'd gone through to Juanita, whereas her mother wished with all her might that she'd never faced that trouble that had made her overlook her real daughter and swore, from that day forward, to really let go of her other daughter and focus all her maternally efforts entirely upon her beloved Juanita. Never again, Gabrielle promised silently, would she let her daughter feel unloved or forget that she really was proud of her.

Her smile grew. She owed it all to Lee, and she'd thank him appropriately when she saw him again. A nice set of sweats to show off his manly bod should be just the ticket. In truth, Gabrielle knew, neither that or any other gift could even begin to thank him for the gift he'd given her back, for the present of awakening to the truth of her real daughter. She would thank him, though, and she would be endlessly grateful to him for showing her what she had almost missed out on. She hugged Juanita more tightly, feeling her daughter's heart beat beneath her own. She'd never take a second with her real daughter for granted ever again, and she was the only little girl in all the world who she really loved for, no matter what the medical records said, Juanita really was her daughter!

**The End**


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